6.  The applicant was born in 1943 and lives in Wrocław.
7.  The applicant was a journalist employed by Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcjna (TVP), the Polish public television company. On 1 April 1999 Gazeta Wyborcza, a national newspaper, published an article reporting that two classical music programmes had been taken off the air. The article cited well-known composers, critics and journalists who had expressed their concerns about the lack of support for classical music and about the fact that the quality of public television programmes was being negatively affected as a result of fierce competition from private broadcasters. The article also quoted an opinion which had been expressed by the applicant in an interview in her capacity as the President of the Polish Public Television Journalists’ Union (Syndykat Dziennikarzy Polskich Telewizji Polskiej).
The relevant part of the article read as follows:
“... Ms Kaletowa, the President of the Polish Public Television Journalists’ Union said: ‘We have received the decision very badly, especially as the new programme proposals are not concrete. Director K. stated that the changes were not aimed at getting rid of classical music but, on the contrary, at creating new possibilities for it. I take this statement at face value, although no steps have been taken so far which could confirm these good intentions’.”
8.  The applicant also signed an open letter addressed by 34 representatives of cultural and artistic circles in Wrocław to the board of TVP. The letter stated that classical music was a common value and a pillar of national identity and that the lack of a stable and coherent policy with respect to the broadcasting of classical music constituted a threat to culture and to the amateur music movement. By way of example, the authors mentioned two music programmes which had been discontinued and replaced by “pseudo-musical kitsch”.
The open letter read, inter alia:
“Everybody involved in music is deeply concerned by the marginalisation of culture and music in our country and, in particular, in our region.
Music is the heritage of the nation. It is also the universal language of art, spoken by citizens throughout the world. Music constitutes one of the pillars of our national identity and we must preserve and disseminate both the work of previous centuries and of modern times. Chopin, Szymanowski, Górecki, Lutosławski, Kilar or Penderecki are composers of whom we are proud.
... All these achievements are seriously jeopardised. There is a lack of money and no stable and coherent policy of protection and no systematic co-operation with the media. As regards regional television, despite the principles governing the public TV’s mission, concerts, magazines, cultural and music programmes, such as ‘MAK’, ‘TUBA’, ‘Meeting Classical Music’ are disappearing and air time is being polluted by violence and pseudo-musical kitsch.
The NSZZ Solidarność Trade Union and the representatives of cultural and artistic circles ... protest against these measures.”
9.  On 15 April 1999 the applicant was reprimanded in writing by her employer for failing to observe the company’s general regulation no. 14 § 2, which required her to protect her employer’s good name (see paragraph 18 below). The applicant argued in her appeal of 20 April 1999 to the Regional Director of TVP that when commenting on the employer’s decision she had been acting in her capacity as the president of a trade union.
The employer stated in reply that the comments in question did not refer to matters which could fall within the trade union’s scrutiny. In addition, the open letter which the applicant had signed contained untrue and tendentiously presented information that was harmful to the company’s good name.
The reprimand was to be kept in her records for a period of up to one year, depending on the applicant’s behaviour.
10.  The applicant unsuccessfully objected to the reprimand. She argued that as a member of the trade union she had a right to criticise measures impairing the rights of employees.
11.  On 13 May 1999 the applicant lodged a claim against TVP with the Wrocław District Court, requesting that the reprimand be withdrawn. She alleged that the reprimand had been an act of revenge by her employer for her trade-union activity and disagreed with the assessment made of her behaviour.
12.  By a judgment of 9 January 2001 the Wrocław District Court dismissed her claim. The court agreed with the employer’s arguments that the issue of changes in television programming was not a matter on which the trade union could comment and that the applicant had failed to observe the obligation of loyalty imposed on her as an employee. The court found that the applicant was guilty of having behaved in an unlawful manner and that this was a necessary and sufficient prerequisite for the disciplinary measure imposed on her.
13.  The applicant appealed, pleading a violation of the applicable provisions of the Trade Unions Act, read in conjunction with Article 54 of the Polish Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression. She submitted, inter alia:
“The lower court has breached [inter alia] Article 54 of the Constitution in that it accepted that the applicant, as the President of the Polish Public Television Journalists’ Trade Union, was not entitled to make comments to the press and to sign the open letter concerning the situation in its regional branch, despite the fact that she was acting in the employees’ interest, in compliance with her legal obligations and without harming the employer’s good name. [The letter] had a close connection with the programming changes which were to the detriment of the musical culture in Lower Silesia, but, first and foremost, also infringed the material and moral interests of the employees who could lose their jobs and broadcasting time.”
14.  On 10 April 2001 the Wroclaw Regional Court upheld the contested judgment. It stated that the applicant’s comments had not been aimed at the protection of employees’ rights in connection with her function in the trade union but had taken the form of an assessment of the changes in programming policy. It concluded that the applicant had acted to the detriment of the employer and had thus breached her obligation of loyalty. Consequently, the employer had been entitled to impose the reprimand on her.